Being Born Again John 3:7 Sermon by Dr Peter Masters

John 3.7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
A sermon in a single verse from the Saviour of the World tells us not to be astonished or offended that a complete renewal of life and nature - performed by God - is essential in order to know Him, and go to Heaven. Here is the way to life. Dr Peter Mastershttp://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/

Martyn Lloyd-Jones - Preaching and Preachers

“[The] term ‘decide’ has always seemed to me to be quite wrong…A sinner does not ‘decide’ for Christ; the sinner ‘flies’ to Christ in utter helplessness and despair saying —

Foul, I to the fountain fly,

Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

No man truly comes to Christ unless he flies to Him as his only refuge and hope, his only way of escape from the accusations of conscience and the condemnation of God’s holy law. Nothing else is satisfactory. If a man says that having thought about the matter and having considered all sides he has on the whole decided for Christ, and if he has done so without any emotion or feeling, I cannot regard him as a man who has been regenerated. The convicted sinner no more ‘decides’ for Christ than the poor drowning man ‘decides’ to take hold of that rope that is thrown to him and suddenly provides him with the only means of escape. The term is entirely inappropriate.” 

― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers

Charles Spurgeon Morning & Evening Psalm 138:5

"They shall sing in the ways of the Lord."—Psalm 138:5

HE time when Christians begin to sing in the ways of the Lord is when they first lose their burden at the foot of the Cross. Not even the songs of the angels seem so sweet as the first song of rapture which gushes from the inmost soul of the forgiven child of God. You know how John Bunyan describes it. He says when poor Pilgrim lost his burden at the Cross, he gave three great leaps, and went on his way singing—

"Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! blest rather be The Man that there was put to shame for me!" Believer, do you recollect the day when your fetters fell off? 

Do you remember the place when Jesus met you, and said, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; I have blotted out as a cloud thy transgressions, and as a thick cloud thy sins; they shall not be mentioned against thee any more for ever." Oh! what a sweet season is that when Jesus takes away the pain of sin. When the Lord first pardoned my sin, I was so joyous that I could scarce refrain from dancing. I thought on my road home from the house where I had been set at liberty, that I must tell the stones in the street the story of my deliverance. So full was my soul of joy, that I wanted to tell every snow-flake that was falling from heaven of the wondrous love of Jesus, who had blotted out the sins of one of the chief of rebels. But it is not only at the commencement of the Christian life that believers have reason for song; as long as they live they discover cause to sing in the ways of the Lord, and their experience of His constant lovingkindness leads them to say, "I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth." See to it, brother, that thou magnifiest the Lord this day.

"Long as we tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand." Charles Spurgeon

The fiery darts of the devil - Octavius Winslow

Dear reader, are you a target against which the fiery darts of the devil are leveled? Are you sorely tempted?

Ephesians 6:13-16

Do not be astonished as though some strange thing had happened unto you. The holiest of God’s saints have suffered as you are now suffering; yes, even your blessed Lord, your Master, your Pattern, your Example, and He in whose name you shall be more than conqueror; was once assailed as you are, and by the same enemy. And let the reflection console you, that temptations only leave the traces of guilt upon the conscience, and are only regarded as sins by God, as they are yielded to. The mere suggestion of the adversary, the mere presentation of a temptation, is no sin, so long as, in the strength that is in Christ Jesus, the believer firmly and resolutely resists it. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Jesus has already fought and conquered for you. He knew well what the conflict with Satan was. And He remembers, too, what it is. Lift up your head, dear tempted soul! You shall obtain the victory. The seed of the woman has bruised the serpent’s head; yes, has crushed him, never to obtain his supremacy over you again. He may harass, annoy, and distress you; but pluck you from the hollow of the hand that was pierced for you, he never can.

Octavius Winslow

Pardon at the mercy-seat of Christ ~J.C. Ryle

Thousands and tens of thousands have sought for pardon at the mercy-seat of Christ, and not one has ever returned to say that he sought in vain. Sinners of every name and nation—sinners of every sort and description—have knocked at the door of the fold, and none have ever been refused admission.

If the way which the Gospel sets before us were a new and untraveled way—we might well feel faint-hearted. But it is not so. It is an old path. It is a path worn by the feet of many pilgrims, and a path in which the footsteps are all one way. The treasury of Christ's mercies has never been found empty. The well of living waters has never proved dry.

~J.C. Ryle

God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes - Matthew Henry

This new and blessed state will be free from all trouble and sorrow; for, 1. All the effects of former trouble shall be done away. They have been often before in tears, by reason of sin, of affliction, of the calamities of the church; but now all tears shall be wiped away; no signs, no remembrance of former sorrows shall remain, any further than to make their present felicity the greater. God himself, as their tender Father, with his own kind hand, shall wipe away the tears of his children; and they would not have been without those tears when God shall come and wipe them away. 2. All the causes of future sorrow shall be for ever removed: There shall be neither death nor pain; and therefore no sorrow nor crying; these are things incident to that state in which they were before, but now all former things have passed away. - Revelation 21:1-4

 Matthew Henry

One second of glory will outweigh a lifetime of suffering. ~ A.W. PINK

One second of glory will outweigh a lifetime of suffering. What were the years of toil, of sickness, of battling with poverty, of sorrow in any or every form, when compared with the glory of Immanuel’s land! One draught of the river of pleasure at God’s right hand, one breath of Paradise, one hour amid the blood-washed around the throne, shall more than compensate for all the tears and groans of earth. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” May the Holy Spirit enable both writer and reader to lay hold of this with appropriating faith and live in the present possession and enjoyment of it to the praise of the glory of Divine grace. ~ A.W. PINK

Christians Persecution - J. C. Ryle

True Christians should never be greatly moved by the persecution of man. Their enemies may be strong, and they may be weak; but still they ought not to be afraid. They should remember that “the triumphing of the wicked is but short.” What has become of the Pharaohs and Neros and Diocletians, who at one time fiercely persecuted the people of God? Where is the enmity of Charles the Ninth of France, and Bloody Mary of England?
They did their utmost to cast the truth down to the ground. But the truth rose again from the earth, and still lives; and they are dead, and mouldering in the grave. Let not the heart of any believer fail. Death is a mighty leveler, and can take any mountain out of the way of Christ’s church. “The Lord lives” forever. His enemies are only men. The truth shall always prevail.

J. C. Ryle Commenting on Mt. 2:13-23

Arthur Pink - The Doctrine of Salvation

"Growing in grace most certainly does not mean an increasing satisfaction with myself. No, it is the very opposite. The more I walk in the light of God, the more plainly can I see the vileness of the "flesh" within me, and there will be an ever-deepening abhorence of what I am by nature. "For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not" (Romans 7:18) is not the confession of an unbeliever, nor even of a babe in Christ, but of the most enlightened saint. The only peace for the renewed heart is to look away from self to Christ."

— Arthur Pink, "The Doctrine of Salvation"

Jesus‬ ‪‎is‬ God‬ with us ~ J.C. Ryle

Let us take care that we have clear views of our Lord Jesus Christ’s nature and person. It is a point of the deepest importance. We should settle it firmly in our minds, that our Savior is perfect man as well as perfect God, and perfect God as well as perfect man. ((If)) we once lose sight of this great foundation truth, we may run into fearful heresies. The name ‪‎Emmanuel‬ takes in the whole mystery. ‪#‎Jesus‬ ‪#‎is‬ “‪#God‬ with us.” He had a nature like our own in all things, sin only excepted. But though Jesus was “with us” in human flesh and blood, He was at the same time very God. ~ Let us take care that we have clear views of our Lord Jesus Christ’s nature and person. It is a point of the deepest importance. We should settle it firmly in our minds, that our Savior is perfect man as well as perfect God, and perfect God as well as perfect man. ((If)) we once lose sight of this great foundation truth, we may run into fearful heresies.
The name ‪Emmanuel‬ takes in the whole mystery. ‪Jesus‬ ‪is‬ “‪God‬ with us.” He had a nature like our own in all things, sin only excepted. But though Jesus was “with us” in human flesh and blood, He was at the same time very God.

~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew 1:18-25, Expository Thoughts on Matthew Mt. 1:18-25

Charles H. Spurgeon The Treasury of David, Vol.1

"O fear the LORD, ye His saints." Pay to Him humble childlike reverence, walk in His laws, have respect to His will, tremble to offend Him, hasten to serve Him. Fear not the wrath of men, neither be tempted to sin through the virulence of their threats; fear God and nothing else…
The fear of the LORD or true piety is not only the duty of those who avow themselves to be saints, that is, person set apart and consecrated for holy duties, but it is also their path of safety and comfort. Godliness hath the promise of the life which now is. If we were to die like dogs, and there were no hereafter, yet were it well for our own happiness’ sake to fear the Lord. Men seek a patron and hope to prosper; he prospers surely who hath the Lord of Hosts to be His friend and defender.

Charles H. Spurgeons
The Treasury of David, Vol.1